


falling into the stars

by cherrysake



Category: iKON (Korea Band)
Genre: M/M, Soulmate AU, another au lmao, blonde hanbin, guess thats the gist of it, hanbin needs to get hooked up, junbob are practically married, lots of cheese??, redhead jinhwan, run away from this fic rn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-12 00:24:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11725671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrysake/pseuds/cherrysake
Summary: hanbin didn't expect to meet his soulmate through two idiots, that much was for sure.





	falling into the stars

**Author's Note:**

> another soulmate au, where hanbin is older than jinhwan.
> 
> bc why not. also very short. byE.

Hanbin’s known Jiwon for years – too many years, in his opinion, though it’s not like his friend actually gives a fuck about what he thinks of their friendship. Through Jiwon, he knows the ups and downs of having a soulmate, given he’s always dragged along to be the third wheel on their dates (he’s not even sure if Junhwe doesn’t want him there, because the younger boy’s withering stare is always aimed at his friend and not him).  
  
Normally when he gets a call or text from said friend to meet up (“It’s an emergency, come quickly! Stat!”), Hanbin would take his sweet time pulling on his leather jacket and spending more than ten minutes primping his hair – and when he finally reaches the destination, Jiwon would take him into a chokehold whilst he eyed the word ‘nightclub’ with the same disdain that would forever be painted on Junhwe’s face – except when he went shopping with Jiwon’s credit card.  
  
Or at least, that much was supposed to happen: so, when Hanbin receives a text from Jiwon that merely has a location attached with the message _‘have someone for u to meet’_ , he’s not entirely sure what to expect – Jiwon’s always trying to set him up on blind dates all the damn time, insisting that he was twenty-four now and ready to meet his soulmate. (Said dates have always ended up in disaster – the first one with a guy named Donghyuk ended only ten minutes in with his ex-boyfriend (or current?) barged in and declared his undying love for the man. Hanbin’s not sure what to expect this time, either.)

Soulmate-hunting, as youngsters would call it these days, wasn't rare - if you were lucky enough to come into contact with your soulmate in the same space, your mark would appear. It sounded extremely simple, yet it was a grueling experiment: in a social space so full of people, it was akin to trying to find a needle in a haystack. The marks ranged variously, sometimes it was a star, sometimes it was a crescent, sometimes it looked like someone put an iron to their wrists and got a burn.

Needless to say, common symbols were... very common- leading to a big confusion sometimes. Hanbin's come into contact with so many people, but his mark had yet to appear. (Thank God it seemed that marks only appeared on either wrist, Hanbin thinks. If it had been any where on the back, everybody probably would end up dying single.)  
  
As he pulls over into a free parking space and exits his vehicle, he looks up at the small diner that was, apparently, the address that Jiwon had sent him. It was downtown instead of the usual clubbing scene, making him feel like he’s been thrown into confused disarray. He spots his friend’s familiar mop hair fairly easily through the glass windows, chattering away with someone over the counter; head thrown back in laughter and one arm around a taller male who seemed to have listened to enough of his shit.  
  
He enters the diner, utterly taken aback by the change of pace from his energetic friend, and is greeted with a cheery ‘Hanbin, you’re here!’ from said friend. Allowing a hug from Jiwon and a handshake-slash-shoulder-bump with Junhwe, who's seated at the table right in front of the cashier whilst his boyfriend was draped over the counter; he finally spots the small male with bright-red hair behind the cashier, smiling awkwardly with an equally awkward wave to the stranger.  
  
There’s a strange feeling in his chest, something akin to discomfort welling up and making him rub a hand over his front lightly. He takes a seat next to Junhwe, mostly because he doesn’t want to deal with Jiwon’s clingy antics right about now; eyes focused on the small stature of the waiter behind the counter.  
  
“Right, let’s jump to introductions then!” Jiwon claps loudly once, grinning toothily and making Junhwe stare daggers at him. It was a funny story how they even met in the first place, but that was a tale to be told another day (hint: Jiwon accidentally knocked a cup of hot coffee over Junhwe. Typical.) “Hanbin, this is Jinhwan. Jinhwan, this is Hanbin. Now shake hands and kiss.”  
  
_Jinhwan_ merely rolls his eyes with a fond shake of his head, pretty tiers of white showing through his smile at Jiwon’s antics. _Jinhwan_ is all pretty smiles, twinkling eyes and fond amusement. _Jinhwan_ is ethereal, black hair flopping over his gentle eyes and skin as smooth as marble.  
  
Hanbin doesn’t taste just how _scalding_ his coffee is against his tongue, not when he’s entirely too focused on the other. He reacts a moment later, slamming the cup down as carefully as he could and jumps out of his seat; brows furrowed and tongue hanging out.  
  
He can already feel Junhwe’s judgmental eyes on him and Jiwon bursting into peals of laughter, though his mind flits immediately to Jinhwan’s reaction – he’s surprised when he turns and the boy is standing right in front of him, body bent over the counter.  
  
“Are you okay?” Jinhwan asks, melodic voice ringing in his ears as Hanbin stared on dumbly. He only repeats his question, waving a hand in front of the elder’s face with an amused smile.  
  
Jiwon kicks him under the counter, _hissing at him that Jinhwan was asking him a damn question, could he answer it already and quit being dumb._ Hanbin jerks back to reality, nodding his head wordlessly and offering a silly smile, the rectangular smile that forms only when he’s being charming (or dumb, or both.)

Luckily, it seems that Jinhwan doesn't find out about his heart thumping against his ribcage, instead aiming a sweet smile at him (that Hanbin melts internally at) the male. Despite his little (very huge) floundering during their first meeting, Jinhwan is nice enough to respond to his quirkiness, making the older male feel like a young boy once again.

As their conversation deepens, he finds out loads about Jinhwan: the boy was just two years younger than him despite his youthful face, he can play the guitar (Hanbin may or may not have asked to be serenaded some day), he had learned about coffee-making without any studies,  _that his coffee was really, really good,_ and that Jinhwan was almost seen as the owner of the cafe (except he's not, his father was).

He finally leaves two hours later, feeling blissful with Jinhwan's phone number registered in his device and Jiwon's elbow finding his side more than ten times in a  _I-told-you-you-would-like-him_ manner that he couldn't push away.

 

 

Something feels off the next morning he wakes up, hair mussed and bleary eyes blinking continuously into focus as he glanced about his studio apartment, finding nothing out of the ordinary— that is, until he lifts the duvet from his body and finds an outline of a cloud shaped on his right wrist. 

Hanbin blinks once, twice, then leaps out of bed to rush into the bathroom, knocking his shoulder into the door in his hurry. He pumps the vanilla-scented soap into his hands and starts scrubbing over the mark until his skin turns red. The mark remains there, making him stare at it with bewildered eyes; he'd never met his mate so far,  _what the hell_ triggered it now?

His mind immediately drifts back to  _Jinhwan_ , but Hanbin thinks that it's impossible. No way. He was nothing but a struggling lyricist slash composer, and Jinhwan- Jinhwan owned a cafe, for goodness sake! (Not his, entirely, but still.) The smaller boy was sweet and kind, loving and patient and had a great sense of humor— there was absolutely  _no way_ he was Jinhwan's soulmate. Jinhwan's soulmate had to be someone who earned loads of money to pamper Jinhwan with and had maids in his house so Jinhwan would never have to lift a finger. 

No. Way. 

Besides, it could've been any of the customers in the cafe yesterday, too. That's right. There was nothing to panic over, Hanbin tells himself as he washes the soap off his skin and worries his bottom lip with his teeth. Nothing at all.

He finishes washing up just as a call comes in, taking more than ten seconds to get to his phone and thumb over the green button. (The ringtone was Jiwon's, there was probably zero emergencies.) 

"Hey man, coffee?" Hanbin hears the depressed tone in Jiwon's voice, rolling his eyes and immediately linking it to a stupid argument with Junhwe. He agrees, though, only because the ambiance of the cafe is great, grabbing his laptop and notebook along with him so he could (perhaps, hopefully) get some of his lyrics and compositions done as he listened to Jiwon mope.

The male reaches the cafe soon enough, eyes already catching a glimpse of the small redhead behind the counter before he could even walk in. Pulling the sleeve of his sweater down below his wrists, he walks into the cafe, finding Jiwon almost immediately in a corner booth instead of being near the counter. Junhwe's nowhere to be seen, so Hanbin previous assumption that they had a spat was probably correct.

"Where's Junhwe?" He asked as he slid into the booth, brows raising at his brunette friend, who had his head ducked into folded arms. Jiwon looks up blearily, eyes red— the pitiful look his friend sports is enough to send alarms blaring through Hanbin's head. Definitely a bad fight. He pauses in his sliding, stops, places his possessions down before he turned and headed to the counter immediately. "Alright, what stupid thing did they fight over this time?"

Jinhwan glances over at the question, having been busy with wiping down the coffee machine. He smiles, shaking his head at the sad puddle that was Jiwon and just nodded wordlessly at Hanbin. "Something about an anniversary or something, Junhwe said he didn't _need_ a dozen roses." He explains, setting the rag aside to place both hands on the counter and  _oh._ Hanbin can see his wrists from his position, eyes flitting to the small, outlined shape of a cloud  _that perfectly matched his._

"I- Uh-." He stutters, losing control over his mind and tongue for a moment as he blanked out, immediately piecing the two marks together quickly. Fear swallows his courage rather quickly, because he thinks that the possibility of Jinhwan being disappointed from having  _him_ of all people as his soulmate was pretty high. Hell, he was just some nobody the younger male had met just yesterday, and boom: they were soulmates.

Honestly, if it were anybody else in the whole wide damn world, Hanbin would've been brave enough to show him the mark and celebrate. However, this time around, he offers a weak smile and orders one chocolate milkshake for himself and an iced lemon tea to refresh Jiwon's tear ducts. 

"Alright, coming up." Jinhwan winks playfully, moving away to start on their drinks (and allowing Hanbin a moment to recall that Jiwon would probably want something sweet to combat his depression— he guesses he'll have to make do with the iced tea) and Hanbin just  _watches_ as the male's arms flexed with his movements. The smaller male wasn't muscular, per say, but he was just the right dosage of  _perfect_ to him. He probably wouldn't make any sense to people if they ever could read his mind.

He smiles gratefully when Jinhwan returns with the drinks, sweet smile fixed in place as he gave a 'good luck cheering him up', making Hanbin flush a bright red at the toothy, cute smile that's aimed his way. Hopefully, the male doesn't notice just how  _red_ his cheeks are, or the fact that he almost walks into a chair on his way back to the booth. This time around, he notices the bouquet of roses set aside like a tossed toy right beside his depressed friend, raising a brow as he set both drinks on the table.

"Here, chocolate milkshake." He offered, making Jiwon look up from weeping into his arms. Jiwon stares at him for a minute, making Hanbin raise an eyebrow.

"I don't  _like_ chocolate," Jiwon starts, but he sees the way Hanbin's irises start to rise upward and quickly pulls the drink towards him to take a sip, lips set in a sulky pout. " _Junhwe_ likes chocolate milkshakes. Why doesn't he want my roses?"

"You say that as if you  _don't_ know what your soulmate is like." Hanbin pointed out, only effectively making Jiwon's facial expression turn more sullen. "Junhwe's the kind who would've preferred if you both stayed at home with home-cooked food- or come here and have a nice dinner. Nothing too fancy. The roses weren't even needed."

Jiwon starts to protest about  _romantic aspects_ , but Hanbin cuts him off with a stare that could cut like a knife.

"We  _all_ know Junhwe's unable to take care of any living thing." He says, effectively ending the conversation as he watched his friend sulk into the cup as he twirled the straw around with a sigh.

"I miss him." The brunette sighed, laying his head on his arms again. Hanbin rolled his eyes, shaking his head before he pulled out his phone to dial Junhwe.

 _"What the fuck did he do this time,"_ came Junhwe's rough voice over the phone.

"Just come collect him before Jinhwan deems him as trash and brings him to the bin where he belongs." Hanbin deflects easily, running a hand through his dark hair and catching said male's eyes from their table.

" _Alright, I'm coming."_

Once Junhwe arrives to get his boyfriend, Jiwon promptly recovers and clings to the taller brunette with such force he's almost knocked down. Junhwe has a scowl on his face, but Hanbin can read that he's relieved his soulmate didn't get into any trouble. It's times like this when Hanbin wishes he had someone to hold as well. Their marks are shown beautifully on their wrists as they exchange a hug, though Junhwe's scowl doesn't fade; matching dogwood flowers on their skin.

He feels a tap on his side, turning to find Jinhwan next to him and jumping a little. "Are they good now?" Jinhwan asked, eyes laughing and smile showing his teeth again. Hanbin is barely able to peel his eyes off, turning back to the couple before nodding his head. 

"Yeah. They're good now."

 

 

It takes approximately three more days and the couple crashing at Hanbin's house from a heat wave for his mark to be revealed. They had been playing around with hair dye, bleaching his hair (not the roots, though, he'd insisted) and then coloring it blonde. It was by chance that he forgets to wear a long-sleeved shirt today, and the mark is seen by the couple as he lifts his hair to admire it.

Jiwon is the first to react, crowing loudly in victory and prancing about as if  _he_ were the one who had found his soulmate. It was hilarious since the brunette didn't even  _know_ who Hanbin's soulmate is until his own boyfriend makes the connection.

"Wait, Jinhwan has this same exact mark." The male grabs Hanbin's wrist to pull it closer and inspecting it with grave eyes. "Look, the little swirl at the end of it where it starts and ends- that's the same as Jinhwan-hyung's!" 

"Holy shit man- Who  _knew_ he was your soulmate?!" His brunette friend bounces over like an over-excited puppy, teeth flashing and eyebrows wiggling— effective in making the blonde slap his cheek lightly in an attempt to calm him down. "Ow. Did you tell him yet?"

"Of course not," Hanbin snapped, running his hands through his newly-dyed hair in frustration. "You were moping the same day it appeared, I didn't have any time to tell you, let alone him."

Junhwe takes this as a cue to punch his boyfriend on the arm for ruining their friend's chances of ever getting laid. Jiwon whimpers in pain, rubbing the spot where he's been hit and sulking silently.

"How about we go and tell him now?" The taller asks, eyes shining the brightest Hanbin's ever seen them shine. He has to admit, Junhwe was  _really_ handsome and Jiwon was a lucky bastard.

"I'm not sure," He sighed, shoulders dropping and confidence ebbing away. "I mean, what if he's disappointed by me?"

The youngest rolls his eyes so dramatically, Hanbin wonders if they were going to pop out of their sockets. 

"That's nonsense," Jiwon pipes up from the side where he had been pouting quietly. "Jinhwan likes you so much, you have  _no fucking idea._ "

"Bullshit," The blonde breathes, rubbing his hand along his chest in a frustrated motion. There was no way someone as wonderful as Jinhwan liked him. He could practically feel Junhwe rolling his eyes despite not looking at him, but Hanbin doesn't really care.

"Listen, you could waltz into the cafe with a guitar and sing a song about the stars you see in his eyes and he'd be clapping for you like a retard." Jiwon rolls his eyes at the anxiety Hanbin displayed. "Man, listen to Junhwe. He's known Jinhwan for years."

"Yeah, listen to me and not Jiwon." Junhwe agreed quickly, making his boyfriend feign an over-dramatic look of offense, paired with a hand to his chest, as if he had gotten shot by a gun.

The youngest of the trio pushes his boyfriend away so he can take a seat beside Hanbin, throwing a shoulder over the blonde's shoulder and fixing him with a stony stare. "Listen to me. You march right up to the counter and ask Jinhwan for a date. That's all. Deal?"

Hanbin probably hesitates a moment too long, given the fact that Junhwe pulls away after a moment with a huge, huge sigh of disappointment. "Look man, I'm not even asking you to ask him to be your  _boyfriend_. Just one date."

With wary eyes, he regarded Junhwe's index finger and unnerving gaze, biting his lip and pondering for a moment more before he gives in. "Fine, I'll ask him on a date."

The couple cheers, finally relieved their friend was willing to at least try instead of complaining all the time (and that probably meant something, but they were too hyped to even think about what it was). Jiwon throws his denim jacket at his face with a whoop of glee, already out the door before the other two could stop him.

"Let's go, lover boy."

 

 

Hanbin isn't too sure how he ended up in the amusement park with Jinhwan, matching tiger ears on their heads as they walked around. Jinhwan's a little too starry-eyed, something he's not used to seeing, but he still allows the youth to drag him around to places because  _then_ their hands would touch.

They've been on the ferris wheel, the carousel and many other roller coasters that messed up his properly-groomed hair — but the blonde's having way too much fun to even care that he doesn't look that good anyway. When Jinhwan spots him messing about with his hair once they passed a window, though, he pulls the elder away with a very convincing  _you look good, don't worry, the hair looks good when messed up too,_ along with a playful wink that made his heart skip a beat.

A break was much needed in-between their stops, so the pair walks around with food in their hands. Hanbin watches Jinhwan take a bite of his churro, then offer it to him (which he gladly takes a bite of, because that was an opportunity too big to be missed) and then offered a bite of his corndog to the younger male. They sit down under a red umbrella covering the seats, Jinhwan whining softly that he was thirsty — so the elder leaves the map plan with him and goes off to get them some cooling drinks.

He returns with a large smoothie, two long straws stuck in it, but doesn't expect Jinhwan to use  _both_ of them at once. Facing a speechless loss, Hanbin admits defeat and drinks from one of the straws.  _Another indirect kiss_ , he thinks to himself, the thought that the world had suddenly become a brighter place not far from the front of his mind. Jinhwan begins to poke about the remaining slush of melted ice with the straws as they rested their bodies from having just eaten.

"Are you good with sudden drops?" The redhead asks, making Hanbin startle out of his reverie. He nods silently, though he was sweating a ton internally because no way in hell was he going to admit he wasn't all too keen on the gyro drop ride. Roller coasters, he could handle, but drops from so far off the ground? No. Way. The bright smile on the male's lips make him too weak at the knees, though, so he doesn't protest when he's dragged over to the queue.

Regret only truly washes over him when he gets off the ride, face pale and limbs trembling so hard, Jinhwan helps him to sit on a nearby bench. Worry makes his features crumble together, yet Hanbin still finds him pretty. He barely registers the younger male telling him to wait while he fetches him some water, only able to watch as the redhead darted off in the direction of the food stand they'd passed by before.

He felt stupid, pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes with a harsh sigh at how much of a coward he was — he had never been good with heights even when he was a child; that fear had never really gone away despite growing up. Just as he removes his hands from his visage, he spots the other running back despite the colorful spots dotting his vision, thanks to the heavy pressure he had put on his eyelids.

"Here, water," Jinhwan pants out as he held the bottle of water he'd purchased out for Hanbin to take. The elder does so with a grateful smile, uncapping it to take a swig. The cool liquid seems to serve its purpose a few moments later, when the redhead smiles at him and comments on how his face looked better now. 

They stay silent for a while, Jinhwan seated beside the blonde as they both watched the crowd move along at their own paces, a small girl running by with her red balloon making the smaller male chuckle. 

"You should've told me if you didn't deal well with heights." 

A wry smile curls the corners of the blonde's lips, looking at the pretty eyes gazing straight at him. "I just wanted to seem cool."

He watches the shy smile bloom on the younger male's face, admiring the beauty of the ruby color suddenly coloring pale skin. Jinhwan avoids his gaze, but Hanbin wants him to  _look_ at him; feeling overly courageous as he lifts a hand and cups the redhead's jaw, tilting it slightly so their eyes met.

Red blooms all over Jinhwan's cheeks, eyes darting away from Hanbin's searching ones and making him feel braver than he was seconds ago; slowly dragging his thumbs over the smooth, flushed skin and effectively making Jinhwan look at him. Their eyes manage to meet for the briefest of seconds, and Hanbin feels propelled to lean forward and meet the pair of inviting lips —

He goes as far as pressing his lips to Jinhwan's nose, pulling away immediately with a face as red as the younger male's. He's probably imagining it, but there seemed to be people  _staring,_ but he suddenly feels warm hands cup his face and bring him forward; their lips finally meeting in an awkward, teeth-hitting kiss.

Wide eyes find half-satisfied ones, then Hanbin is gripping Jinhwan's jaw gently to bring him forward into another kiss; rosy lips soft and pliant against his own. He's afraid of Jinhwan's reaction at first, but when the smaller male  _smiles_ into the kiss, Hanbin is lost in the deep brown pools of the redhead's eyes when they separate.

"Does this mean there will be a second date?" The youth muses, eyebrows quirked as he fought a smile that begun to play at his lips. "Are you asking me out?"

"I don't kiss someone I don't want to date," Hanbin replies stupidly, making the redhead laugh loudly with his head thrown back.  _Pretty,_ he thinks to himself, biting his lip in anxiety to the male's answer. 

"You'll have to ask properly to get a proper answer, Hanbin," Jinhwan teases, toothy smile widening when a soft pout pushes Hanbin's thick bottom lip out. Oh, how kissable the elder looked right now.

"Fine," He drawls, a sudden surge of confidence passing through his entire being — then he's sliding off the bench onto the ground where he positions himself on one knee. Jinhwan smacks his shoulder, flushing red and seemingly all sorts of embarrassed, but his hand doesn't move off the broad shoulder it's rested on now. "Will you be my boyfriend?" 

"Of course."

 

 end.

 


End file.
